Pad holders are staple items of stationery and are widely used to carry pads of paper as well as loose papers and other items. As is well known, a typical pad holder consists of front and back covers joined by an integral hinge. In most cases, the front and back covers are made of a stiff cardboard material and are sandwiched between two layers of leather, vinyl, cloth or other suitable covering material. The covering material typically extends over both the front and back covers, and the portion of covering material between the front and back covers forms the integral hinge. A slit is usually provided near the top of the inside back cover of sufficient length to receive the backer of a pad of paper between the inside back covering material and the stiff cardboard of the back cover. Thus, a pad of paper may be inserted and retained in the pad holder and removed and replaced as desired.
Such pad holders also typically have a flap pocket on the inside front cover to hold loose papers and other items such as tickets and so forth, and may also have additional small pockets on the outside of the flap pocket to bold business cards. A pen or pencil loop is also often provided along the inside of the hinge.
An advantage of a typical pad holder is that it is fairly light and easily carried. A disadvantage of the typical pad holder is that it does not have a great capacity for holding much more than a pad of paper and a few loose sheets. A typical flap pocket cannot accommodate a large number of papers. Moreover, the typical pad holder usually has no room to store other items such as a calculator, an appointment book, a personal telephone directory, keys, and other items one finds necessary. Consequently, the typical pad holder is of limited utility, and one must usually also carry a portfolio or briefcase to hold these other items.
There is a need for a pad holder insert which can provide additional storage in a typical pad holder so as to enable the user to store and carry additional items in the pad holder without the need to resort to a portfolio or briefcase. Such an insert should preferably be available in a number of different configurations to hold a variety of different items, such as computer diskettes, a calculator, keys and coins, and so forth. It is desirable that such an insert be easily inserted and that it not interfere with the use of the pad of paper, inside flap pocket, and other standard features of the pad holder. It is also desirable that such an insert be easily removable for those times when it is not needed, or so that it can be replaced with a different insert adapted to hold different items as the user may desire.
The present invention achieves these goals. The present invention provides an insert which is easy and inexpensive to produce, offers a wide variety of storage capabilities, is easy to insert and remove, and supplements rather than interferes with the standard features of the pad holder into which it is inserted.